Briefs

Girls Hit Home Run

School officials in Owasso, Oklahoma, have agreed to settle a
lawsuit filed by a group of parents and their daughters alleging gender
discrimination in the district's athletic program ("A Pitch For
Equality," August 1996). Under the terms of the settlement reached in
early October, the district agreed to build an on-campus softball field
"comparable in quality" to the existing boys' baseball field, expand
athletic opportunities for 7th and 8th grade girls, provide female
athletes with uniforms and equipment comparable to the boys', and
eliminate any disparity in the scheduling of boys' and girls' games and
practice times. The agreement addresses the lawsuit's charges that the
district was violating Title IX, the part of the Education Amendments
of 1972 that prohibits sex discrimination in educational institutions
receiving federal funds. A similar Title IX lawsuit against the nearby
Tulsa public school district is scheduled for trial in June.

What A Boss

A leading national women's magazine has named Steve Winnick, a
lawyer at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., the
nation's best boss for working mothers. The editors of Redbook magazine
chose Winnick, one of the department's three deputy general counsels
and the supervisor of some 40 employees, over 700 other bosses
nominated in the contest. "I was rather stunned," Winnick says. "In
fact, at first, I thought it was a joke. Sometimes I pull pranks in
this office, and I thought it was someone getting back at me." The
September issue of the magazine featured Winnick in a story and a photo
in which he is posing with the two employees who nominated him, Amy
Comstock and Joan Bardee. They credited him with creating a plan that
lets them share a job by working part time. "As far as we know," they
wrote in their essay nominating Winnick, "it is the only supervisory
job-share arrangement in the federal government."

District Culpable

A jury has awarded an 8-year-old student $1.2 million for
psychological trauma he suffered after being sexually molested by an
11-year-old boy in a restroom in a Los Angeles elementary public
school. A jury found the district guilty of negligence in the 1994
incident. The lawyer for the younger boy, who was 6 at the time, showed
that school officials knew before the incident that the 11-year-old had
a history of severe emotional problems, including inappropriate sexual
behavior. The jury award was the largest award ever in a case of
student-to-student crime, according to Ronald Stephens of the National
School Safety Center.

Busted For Midol

Nine days after she was suspended for having Midol tablets in
school, a 13-year-old honors student from Fairborn, Ohio, returned to
class in October after her father agreed to send the teenager to a
drug-evaluation program. Erica Taylor, who accepted a package of the
over-the-counter menstrual-pain medication from another student, was
disciplined under the district's drug and alcohol policy. The policy
states that all students must see the school nurse if they need
medication and that they must have a parent's permission. The 8th
grader at Baker Junior High School would have faced an 80-day expulsion
if her parents had not agreed to send her for a chemical evaluation,
district officials said. Joy Paolo, a spokeswoman for the district,
said the rules are necessary to shield the 6,200-student district from
legal liability.

Ill-Advised

A teacher's remark that students in her suburban Detroit district
are "ill-bred and ill-mannered" has generated a ton of ill will. Elaine
Miller, a negotiator for teachers in the Redford Union public schools,
made the statement at a school board meeting where she was arguing for
higher teacher pay. Local parents angrily denounced the comment, which
was reported in The Detroit News, and Kenneth Johnson, superintendent
of the 5,000-student district, said many teachers have also told him
they don't agree. Miller defended her remark, saying she was referring
to students in general, not just Redford's. "All I was trying to do is
show that the job is very difficult," she explained. The 30-year
veteran English teacher said many colleagues and parents had told her
they support her comment.

Words of Thanks

Alfredo Perez, the Los Angeles elementary school teacher shot in the
head by a stray bullet in February, held a news conference in September
to thank the community for its prayers and support. Perez was wounded
February 22 as he sat in front of his 5th grade class in the library at
Figueroa Street Elementary School in South Central Los Angeles. Police
said the shooting stemmed from gang activity. The incident drew
national attention, and Perez received words of support from President
Clinton. After the shooting, doctors weren't sure if Perez would live.
Since his injury, he has been in rehabilitation, working to regain his
speech and his ability to walk. The news conference was his first
public appearance since the incident.

How Bad Was It?

A Wisconsin elementary school teacher has filed a lawsuit against a
substitute teacher who allegedly described her students as "the worst
class in the whole world." Linda Grieger, a teacher in Waukesha County,
claims substitute Barbara Volkmann defamed her character in 1994 by
telling other school workers that Grieger's 1st graders "will never
make the 2nd grade." Volkmann's lawyer, Scott Wagner, called the
allegations "goofy." "Nothing defamatory was ever said," he said.

It Takes Two

Teenagers who live with two parents are less likely to use drugs or
be admitted to substance-abuse treatment programs than those living in
single-parent households, according to a new study by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services. The report also analyzed
differences between children who live with biological and adoptive
parents and stepparents. Adolescents living with a single parent or in
two-parent families where one of the adults is a stepparent are 50
percent to 150 percent more inclined to use illegal substances than
those who live with two biological or adoptive parents, the study
found. Teenagers who live with a biological father and a stepmother are
more likely to abuse drugs than those living with a biological mother
and a stepfather. With fewer children today living with their
biological parents, HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said, society has a
responsibility to deliver a consistent message on the danger of drugs.
"Parents raise children," she said, "but all of us have an obligation
to give them a helping hand."

A Special Case

A 20-year-old high school student with Down syndrome played in his
first interscholastic football game in early October after the Colorado
High School Activities Association relaxed its age restrictions. In
September, the governing body amended its bylaws--which allow high
school athletes to compete until age 19--to permit Gabriel Lane, a
senior at Greeley Central High School, to compete in interscholastic
football and swimming this school year. Under the revised rules, the
association's commissioner will grant waivers on a case-by-case basis.
Federal special education law guarantees a free public education to age
21 for students with disabilities. But the state boards that govern
interscholastic sports have been reluctant to allow older students to
compete.

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